The government is introducing new regulatory initiatives to ensure efficient operation in the banking and payment system in the country. To this end, a new payment system, cheque and anti-money laundering bills which are currently being discussed by cabinet, will soon be put before parliament for approval.

Dr Joe Amoako-Tuffuor, Co-ordinator, Consultative Group Secretariat at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, who announced this, said the initiatives were intended to build the banking infrastructure and enhance the operations of the banking and payment system. He was addressing the opening ceremony of the first Ashanti Regional Financial Services Exhibition in Kumasi on Tuesday.

The three-day exhibition, dubbed: "Money 2003", which is being organised under the auspices of the Manhyia Palace and sponsored by the Home Finance Company, is aimed at bringing the financial service providers and the public together to interact and find possible ways of supporting industrial and business growth in the region.

Dr Amoako-Tuffuor said the government was also strengthening the existing regulatory framework by bringing in new banking law, new companies code, new procurement law and new financial administration law, as a means to improve the way financial affairs were conducted in the country and increase public confidence in the management of the nation's economy.

He described the country's banking industry, which had a total asset base of two billion dollars and a total deposit of 1.4 billion dollars between 1997 and 2002, as the smallest in the sub-Saharan Africa. This, Dr Amoako-Tuffuor said, had made it impossible for local banks to syndicate and pool resources to finance large credit deals and investment projects.